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IMMIGRATION

Maersk ship rescues 352 refugees at sea

The Evelyn Maersk came to the assistance of a fishing boat filled with refugees that had taken on water off the coast of Crete.

Published: 2 September 2014 09:52 CEST
Maersk ship rescues 352 refugees at sea
A Maersk Line ship (not the one pictured) came to the rescue of 352 refugees, including 43 children. Photo: Kasper Palsnov/Scanpix
The Danish-owned ship Evelyn Maersk rescued 352 refugees near the Greek island of Crete over the weekend, the maritime news source CO-Søfart reported on Monday. 
 
The refugees, who came from Syria and the Horn of Africa, were on a fishing boat that had taken on water.
 
A spokesperson for Maersk Line said that the Evelyn Maersk was contacted by authorities on Saturday night and asked to reroute toward the fishing vessel. The Evelyn Maersk reached the ship in just over two hours and was able to bring all 352 refugees, including 43 children, on board. 
 
The refugees are due to be transported to the Sicilian town of Trapani. 
 
In July, a Danish-owned Torm ship came to the assistance of Italian and Maltese authorities in saving roughly 300 refugees in the Mediterranean Sea. 

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IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

Published: 20 September 2023 09:06 CEST
France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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